In its place, Split — a sleeper hit directed by M. Night Shyamalan — came in first for the second straight weekend, taking in $26.3 million over the last three days and rising up to a two-week domestic total of about $78 million.

From a financial standpoint, A Dog's Purpose cost just $22 million to make, so it's still on track to get its money back and the financials are good — but the social damage done to what should have been a very popular, family-friendly feature film, cannot be understated.

The team behind A Dog's Purpose is definitely trying to save face ahead of its Friday release date.

As you've probably seen by now, footage showing an animal trainer shoving a visibly frightened German Shepherd into turbulent water on set has been made public by TMZ. In addition, PETA has since called for a boycott on the movie.

While Ellen DeGeneres has since spoken out with the film's star Dennis Quaid to defend the movie, so has the A Dog's Purpose's producer.

The production company for A Dog's Purpose, Amblin Entertainment, revealed on Thursday that they were canceling the flick's premiere and press junket amid those dog abuse accusations. We can't say we're surprised!

As you may recall, earlier this week, shocking footage leaked of a frightened German Shepherd being forced into a pool of water on the film's set. This upsetting incident obviously resulted in the famed animal rights organization to call for a boycott of theDennis Quaid-starring family movie!

Since the company and distributor, Universal Pictures, are looking into the matter, it only seems right that they are hitting a pause button on the celebration and press junket for the film. In a recent statement, Amblin Entertainment explained:

Yesterday,TMZ published a chilling clip capturing an animal trainer shoving a visibly frightened German Shepherd named Hercules into a pool full of water that was being churned by EIGHT motors on the set of A Dog's Purpose.

In a swift response from PETA, the animal rights' organization is calling for a boycott of the movie "in order to send the message that dogs and other animals should be treated humanely, not as movie props."